Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle: Located 250 feet above the plateaux on an extinct volcano.

There are excellent historical displays, a recreation of the 16th century kitchens with sensory and interactive exhibits and the Regimental Museum of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders which details their eventful history from 1794 to the present. The Great Hall, which dates from the end of the Middle Ages, has been restored to its medieval glory and was formally opened by the Queen on St Andrews Day, 1999. Built by James IV in 1503, it was converted to a four storey military barracks in the 19th Century. The Hall has been restored and this is how the original building would have looked and it is now widely admired for its magnificence on the Stirling skyline.

A three-storey building with an ornate facade of tall windows and niches which contain a selection of grotesque carved figures and Renaissance sculptures. Over the Centuries, the Palace Block was stripped for military use and the Royal Chambers converted to mess rooms and officers' quarters.

A good place to begin is with the short audio-visual introduction to the castle and its history.

This display is situated under the 1714 fortifications which border the Queen Anne Gardens.

Nearby

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Museum

Legend

Green Lady

An attendant to Mary, Queen of Scot, who saved her sleeping mistress from a fire engulfing her four poster bed, the Green Lady is suppose to ward of impending disaster. Over the years many cooks or cleaners within the castle have claimed to have witnessed the Green Lady, watching intensely as they perform their duties, only to subsequently discover fires or other natural hazards.

Pink Lady

Legend maintains that only one Scottish Lady survived the besieging of the castle by the English in 1304, and that her ghost now retraces her escape route from the castle to a nearby church. Always dressed in pink with a large pink halo, others claim she is searching for her husband killed in battle against Longshanks army.

Highland Ghost

Regularly mistaken as a tour guide, this ghost is reportedly regaled in full highland dress, it's not until he wanders through solid walls that tourist realize the situation.